Epigraphy

ARABI. Arabs recount Arabia before Islam

Arabic literature is obviously the richest quarry to tap stories about Pre-Islamic Arabia.

Aim of this first issue of Quaderni di Arabia Antica is to introduce narrative texts, both in Arabic original and English translation, from classical Arabic literature and historiography concerning Pre-Islamic Arabia. Preference is given to text which have not been yet translated into English, or even only partially translated or studied.

These tales stand side by side with brief introductory comments. Comparison has been set up between the Arabic Tradition and external sources, in order to give a sketch of a what we can call (with the words of Reynold A. Nicholson) a "Literary History" of Pre-Islamic Arabia.